Chaperone
by MACRA
Summary: Watching out for the kids ain't easy. Especially in the face of young love.


Author's Note

Semi-final submission for the Pro-Bending Circuit

1726 words (without Author's Note)

Prompts used: (word) fearless, (object) roller coaster, (action) screaming, (restriction) First Person POV

* * *

So the day wasn't off to the greatest start. But before I get into that, I should probably explain what I was doing as a chaperone on a school trip to Varrick Land.

At the time I was in my third year at college. Money was kind of tight for my family, and I've never really been the scholarship type. But a friend of the family back home had a son who was a professor at a small college, and I ended up with an arrangement where I stayed with him and his family for crazy cheap. Tenzin kind of put out this stern front, but he was really a sweetheart underneath, and Pema, his wife, is just a lovely person. They have four kids ranging from pre-school to Junior High, which can sometimes be a bit much en masse, but I'm really fond of them too.

So had my own room in a nice house, living with good people, and not paying much more than my share of the grocery bills. So I kind of got in the habit of doing various favors for Tenzin and Pema to make up for it. Mostly Pema because, well, four kids. And one thing Pema was really, _really_ happy to able to get out of was chaperoning.

If you've never done a gig as a chaperone, it's kind of a mixed bag. On the plus side, school trips are usually to someplace interesting and your admission is either free or really cheap. The downside is that you are in the company of a bunch of kids who you have to make sure don't wander off. Oh, and you've got to ride a school bus. In addition, I had it a bit worse because I wasn't a teacher or a parent, so lots of the rug rats assumed I was a sucker until I proved otherwise. It's probably a judgement for everything I ever did to every substitute teacher in my younger years.

Once a year, Varrick Land puts on what they call "Science Day." Schools from all over the area come, and the kids get these little experiment packets. It's all stuff like "figure out how tall the biggest roller coaster is by measuring its shadow" or "use a plumb-bob to figure out how many g's you're pulling in the Bottomless Pit." The kids are there for like 6 or 7 hours and get all the measurements done in the first 30 minutes. It's very popular.

That year Jinora, who was the oldest, was getting to do Science Day for the first time. The kids go to a small school in a small town, and the school usually decides that it will be cheaper to have all the grades do the same thing. The trips tend to be a bit extra crazy as a result. I offered to go along, and Pema, who gets motion sickness, was very grateful. Now for this trip, I have to admit I had an ulterior motive for going beyond just doing something nice for Pema. The fact of the matter is, my girlfriend Asami, who's a year ahead of me at the college, had been student teaching at Jinora's school for the last few months and was also supposed to be going on the trip.

OK, you can stop looking at me like that right now. I do have a sense of propriety. I have too much sense to engage in passionate necking on a school bus in front of the entire student body. I was just looking forward to being able to sit next to my Sweetie on the hour and a half (each way) ride and having a nice talk. There would probably have been some hand-holding, but that would have been the limit of PDA.

The night before the trip, Asami ended up in the college student health center with food poisoning. Her and everyone else who made the mistake of having the fish for dinner at the Commons. Have I mentioned how grateful I am to not be subjected to cafeteria food?

So, my girlfriend was not going on the trip, because she was at that moment lying in bed with a bucket handy for the next time her stomach rebelled. I was worried about her, although it was probably just a matter of her waiting for it to be over. On a more selfish note, it meant that the trip was down one responsible adult and my best chance for a pleasant bus ride was shot. And sure enough on the way there, I ended up sitting next to lady who spent the entire time explaining everything that's wrong with how all the _other_ parents raise their kids. Side note: I met her son once, and he's no great prize.

Going through all the little petty dramas that made up the first part of the day would be as tedious for you to listen to as for me to live through, so let's just say that the bus ride pretty much set the tone for my day. I will maintain to my dying day that all this explains why I agreed, against my better judgement, to attempt to assist Young Love.

You see, Jinora met this boy. I'm a little hazy on the details as I think I was busy trying to help this girl Lily find her "lost" bracelet, which it turned out she had not actually worn that day. Sorry, I got sidetracked there. Jinora met this boy, who I later found out was named Kai. He went to a different school that was also doing Science Day. By the time I was aware what was going on, Jinora and this Kai kid were mooning over one another like crazy. And then they started walking off into the park together. Jinora, mind you, is usually the sensible rule-abiding one. I was torn between finding it hilarious and terrifying.

I was raised to be free-range, so left to myself I would have let all of the kids wander off on their own, and let them find me when they wanted lunch. Jinora's school is kind of fussy though on the point of keeping track of everyone, so I was about to go break up this tender scene of truancy, when the rest of the kids in my assigned group staged a rebellion. The boy was cute. Jinora was sweet. What did I want to go spoil her fun for? Give the kid a break.

Now Jinora was not "Popular" in that very weird sense that the word acquires in junior high and high school. She wasn't fashionable, and she didn't go out for cheerleading or sports. No one was going to nominate her for Homecoming Queen in a few year's time. But she was nice to everyone, and that meant that she was "popular" in the far duller but more sensible sense that just about everyone liked her. So separating her from potential boyfriend would have put me in the same class as someone who kicked puppies as a hobby.

"OK, ground rules," I said in a rush, keeping one slightly panicked eye on the retreating pair. "We keep them in sight and none of you wander off, I don't break up the happy couple. If she or _any_ of you disappear on me, I call out the dragnet on her and the rest of you get to wait on the bus until she's found." Amazingly, they all went on with it, and what followed was the weirdest game of follow-the-leader that you've ever seen. I'm sure I got spotted a couple of times, but I'm sure I would have been spotted more if she wasn't so smitten.

Fortunately for them, Jinora and Kai actually were taking in the attractions together. If the kids in my charge had been forced into the position of just watching them gaze soulfully at each other, I think their enthusiasm might have dropped sharply, but they got to go on the same rides that lovebirds picked out, so peace was maintained.

Kai even got Jinora to go on the Dragon's Dance, and she hates roller coasters. From a few seats back I watched her clutch at his arm and scream, while he did his best to seem nonchalant and fearless.

"They should go on the Ride of Destiny." I turned to look in horror at the speaker. I think it was Lily, she of the not actually missing bracelet. The damage was done. The consensus was that, of course, this was a perfect idea. The Ride of Destiny is one of the cheesiest ride at Varrick Land, second only to The World of Love ride. A lot of the rides at Varrick Land are just included with the general admission, but some require a separate ticket. I had been given a handful of premium passes, and finally agreed to turn two of them in for tickets for the Ride of Destiny. I refused to go on it myself. One girl, I forget her name so I'm just going to call her Spike, surreptitiously delivered the tickets to Kai, and the rest of us settled in at a snack bar across from the ride's entrance.

While they were on the ride, it broke down. That was the most relaxing part of the entire day for me.

At the day's end, I did go up to Jinora to let her know that she'd better start heading for the exit. I then went on ahead with the rest of the kids, giving her the last fifteen minutes with some actual privacy. Well, not privacy exactly since they were in a crowded amusement park. But maybe no one they knew was watching them for a while. Jinora looked pretty pleased with herself when she caught up with us, so I guess it worked out all right.

Once the bus got back, I went to see my own Sweetie. She looked pretty pale and worn, but she was actually trying a little chicken broth and managing to keep it down. I settled into watch an old movie on TV with her and fell asleep in the first fifteen minutes.

"That trip must have been something," Asami said to me when I had woken up again. "What tired you out so much?"

"Young Love," I said.


End file.
